Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Oct In Review

Fresh Sewing Day
My goal for October was to finish up some UFO's.  I was fairly successful.  This Crazy quilt was started about 2003 to use up blue scraps from a Hawaiian applique.  It was actually the first of the series of Crazies that I've made over the past few years.


It took forever to finish because I had decided to do all hand embroidery on every seam (what was I thinking???)

The top was backed with an iron on stabilizer to support the stitching.  Then, like a traditional crazy, there's no batting - I made bar tacks on the machine every 3 inches or so to connect it to a minkee backing.

I also finished this quilt which was my first attempt at free motion quilting a full size quilt on my machine.  I discovered that I am NOT a natural at feathers, which you can read more about in this post.

My newest UFO I pulled out is Hearts Desire which was a mystery block of the month by Esther Aliu.   I was 3 blocks into it when I realized that I would never finish it.   You can see her finished quilt here.  I have a master plan to tie together some of the blocks I did with some of the elements of the original quilt that I really like, without having to do multiple repeats of any design.  This weekend I added the hearts to the upper right block and over the past 2 days have been adding a curvy vine and flowers which will have more leaves.  
I've been practicing my FMQ whenever Leah Day posts some cool new fill.


I made my younger daughter take a batik class with me and we made this.

And I squandered 6 hours of quilt time making my paper doll costume for halloween.

But it was so worth it!  I won 1st prize at work, and had fun changing outfits every 30 minutes.

So, what did you get done this month?

16 comments:

Debbie said...

I know this is a quilting blog - and you made great progress on your UFO's! Your fmq is amazing! But your Halloween costume is about the coolest, most creative thing I've ever seen - ha! You deserved to win!!

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

Love your Halloween costume and I love how you got to change every half hour through the day! You're crazy quilt is fabulous!

Karen said...

Hearts Desire looks like a good one to finish. Reminds me of Valentine's Day.

Celeste said...

My previous comment got swallowed, but long story short you may just be the most creative person I know--your costume ROCKED!!!!

I also see why you would bail on the Hearts Desire but ZOMG your color choices are outstanding. I know you'll turn those blocks into something awesome.

Nic said...

Congrats on the UFO finishes, and love the batik lion, but your halloween costume - very cool! And what fun.

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Oh that halloween costume is so cool! Really different and creative. Love it!

Lynne said...

Congratulations on your win - it was well deserved!

Jen said...

A lot of good work this month! It takes a lot of time to get good at feathers. I feel like I practice all the time. But your other doodling is gorgeous! Wow! Esther's quilts are always really intense, but it looks like you did some good work on it. Congrats on the costume win, you deserve it!

Anne said...

I love that lion!

Bailey said...

Love the costume - congrats on the win! :)

Katie @SwimBikeQuilt said...

there are some really great things in there, but the costume might take the cake!

Rhonda said...

You've got to finish your Hearts Desire quilt. It is going to be fantastic. : )

Lynette said...

Fun projects! REally wonderful costume idea. I can never think of such creative approaches. :) Your fmq looks terrific.

Wendy said...

You have been a busy girl this month! I absolutely love the crazy quilt you made....it is just gorgeous! And it does take a long time to hand stitch all the seams on one.... I have an unfinished Hearts Desire also and is now in my someday finish bin....last but certainly not least, I love your paper doll costume! Such an original design and you certainly deserved to win! Congrats on your win.....

Retrogirl said...

great job keeping up with your UFO pile, Marjorie!!Love the FMQ, too!!

Angie in SoCal said...

Your ufo progress is great, but I just love the idea of paper doll costumes - what a fabulous one you made!